


Cooking x For x Three

by MasterLillyclaw



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Canon Compliant, Chimera Ant Arc, Cooking, Dad Kite, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Kite is a dad, Pre-Entry into NGL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-05 14:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18830917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MasterLillyclaw/pseuds/MasterLillyclaw
Summary: In which Kite makes dinner for Gon and Killua the night before they leave for NGL.





	Cooking x For x Three

**Author's Note:**

  * For [modtor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/modtor/gifts).



> It's my first HxH fic, I gotta do the x in the title thing lol

“Are we really heading into NGL tomorrow?” Gon grabbed an armrest of Kite’s swivel chair and shook, jumping up and down in excitement. When that proved ineffective to draw the older man’s attention away from his work, he leaned over the screen of Kite’s laptop to ensure all focus was on him. “Really really really?”

Killua laughed from beside them, leaning up against the doorframe to the living room and tucking his hands into his pockets. “If Kite says we’re going, we’re going, Gon.”

“But aren’t you _excited,_ Killua? We’ve only gotten to see secondhand reports since they don’t let in any photographers, but now we’ll see inside the country for ourselves! I bet there’s loads of cool stuff!”

He continued jumping until Kite placed a hand on his mass of black hair, steadying him. “No point in wasting your energy right now. Save it for when it matters, alright?”

“Right!”

The chastisement worked for less than a minute before Gon was bouncing around on his feet again, choosing this time to follow Killua around the house. Footsteps pattering in the background suggested a game of tag, but with Nen involved, even a child’s game could grow intense.

“Owww… Killuaaaa, that hurt! I’m gonna getchya now!”

“Hey, no Emitter attacks!”

“Please don’t break anything, you two.” It was still a child’s game, in the end.

A few hours later, Kite wrapped up the necessary work on his end – mostly filling out preliminary forms for a request of entry into NGL, but also sending in the proper notifications to the Hunter Association, which involved a ridiculous amount of paperwork considering the number of paperwork-aversive Hunters. No matter how many times he told Stick to do his own damn filing, it always ended up falling on his shoulders at the last minute.

At least it was done. Kite leaned back in his chair, feeling the leather crinkle under him as he stretched. It was… a quarter past five already? Sunlight still poured in through the nearby window, so it wasn’t quite sunset.

“How would you feel about a brief shopping trip?” He raised his voice enough for it to reach across the house, keeping it just below a shout. It had been quiet for some time, but Gon was hyperactive enough that scuttling about shouldn’t necessitate resting afterwards.

Sure enough, the young Hunters came out of their shared bedroom at his call, Killua leading their short march into the room. “Eh? What for?”

“We’ll be scavenging for food in NGL, most likely, unless we’re lucky and come across a village. I thought it’d be nice to have a home-cooked meal before we go.” Gon and Killua nodded in agreement. “Then let’s go. Nearest grocery store is a ten, fifteen minute drive.”

They followed him outside like two small ducklings, taking in the scenery of the small cottage as if it was their first visit despite having stayed here for some weeks now. The exterior was rather quaint; the walls were a warm yellow with crisp white trim, and a gray shingled roof stood in contrast. At some point, there had been a lawn in the front yard enclosed by bricks, but over the years it had turned into a home for weeds and wild plants. A garage was attached, almost doubling the size of the building, but its usual contents – a small white pickup – currently sat in the driveway. The entire half-acre of land belonged to the Hunter Association, and any Hunters had permission to stay so long as the area was vacant.

Kite climbed into the driver’s seat, bemoaning the lack of rear seats that would give him the precious space necessary to stretch his legs. His blue hat nearly scraped the roof of the vehicle, leaving him in an awkward crouch over the steering wheel. Gon scrambled in from the other side to sit in the middle and Killua happily took shotgun.

The engine chirped and groaned for a few moments before sputtering to life; apparently nobody wanted to be the person to take it in and pay for repairs. Including Kite, who prayed it would last them this final journey.

Gon fiddled with the radio as Kite drove, eventually picking up a good signal on a blues station that was more ads than music. Not that it mattered much what was in the background, as most of the drive there was filled by his cheery banter with Killua. The two never seemed to run out of things to talk about, and Kite was content to let them fill up the empty space with conversation.

  


There was some parking down the street from the grocery store which Kite took immediately; it was two-hour maximum parking, but they wouldn’t be that long. They’d parked on the other side of the street, and Kite saw Gon look around for traffic before stepping into the middle of the road.

He grabbed the scruff of the young Hunter’s shirt, pulling him gently back to the sidewalk. “Traffic laws, Gon. We should cross at the crosswalk.”

Gon scratched his head sheepishly and stuck out his tongue.

Not many people were milling about in the store at this point, although there was still over an hour before closing. Kite grabbed a shopping cart; whatever he was going to buy, he’d need a lot of it to feed the imps at his side. “Any preferences for our protein tonight?”

Killua shrugged at the same time Gon yelled “Pork!” excitedly.

“Alright, pork it is. You two can go buy a treat if you’d like, just keep it under two hundred jennies each.” The duo sprinted off immediately for the candy aisle, leaving Kite to contemplate what to cook.

 _Pork, pork… Should probably mix vegetables in, make it something substantial… Maybe a side dish as well?_ He took a mass of pork loins from the meat section before meandering about the other aisles to figure out what might work well for a meal.

When his cart was relatively full, a shelf of spices caught his attention. He tried to ignore his urge, considering they wouldn’t be taking any foodstuffs with them tomorrow and should avoid buying excess, but the variety of choices beckoned him. It was a simple matter to create a small mirror of his Crazy Slots with Nen to run the random number generation without summoning a weapon. The best part was that the clown didn’t speak during this, or else he’d have stopped long ago for fear of other customers overhearing.

 _Three, and then… six._ He counted three rows down and six to the left on the shelf: dried peppermint leaves. A rare selection! It would spice up their dinner for sure. He swiped the small container, adding it to his ever-growing pile of groceries.

Gon dropped off their treats – a Choco-Robot for Killua and a Nutri-Grain for Gon – and left in a rush, citing the importance of someone’s dog out front that they’d gotten permission to pet.

  


The line at the register was short and Kite caught up to them soon after, four plastic bags in tow. He thanked the man in the pompadour and let the boys have one last pet before handing over the groceries and directing them to the truck.

The young Hunters waved at the man as Kite swung the truck around and drove by, Gon leaning over Killua to stick his head out the window and almost knocking over the bags on both their laps in the process. They stayed on the lookout for more dogs throughout the rest of the drive home, but much to their disappointment, no others appeared.

There were three items on tonight’s menu: mustard-mint pork chops with onion and mushrooms; a simple toss of Brussels sprouts in olive oil, salt, and pepper; and vegetable fried rice with onion and bell pepper. The first step would be cooking the rice, and then he could get started on –

There was no rice in his dried goods shelf. It had been sparse to begin with, containing only a few things left over from previous Hunters, and after diminishing throughout their stay, there were only a few boxes of tagliatelle remaining. But that would still work; rice and pasta were both grains. Tagliatelle took much less time to cook, so he set it aside and began chopping two onions and an extra-large bag of mushrooms for the pork chop mix. As he began stirring them into a bowl with some honey, mustard, and other spices, his two housemates entered the kitchen to observe his work.

“How do you know how much of everything to add?” Gon sniffed at the mixture, seeming satisfied with whatever aroma he’d caught.

“Cooking isn’t too hard; once you make something a few times, you learn to eyeball the proportions.” He almost added in another dash of pepper but remembered the mint and grabbed that instead, putting in two generous splashes and stirring thoroughly.

The cottage used gas, so it didn’t take long to preheat the oven. Kite preferred recipes that required no marinating, so he slathered all twelve pork chops with sizeable portions of the vegetable mixture on both sides, squeezing them into a large glass dish and piling the excess on top. He slid them into the oven and set a timer on his phone for fifty minutes.

“Can you show us how to do any of it, Kite?” Gon spoke up, but Killua was right at his side, staring intently at the ingredients.

“Well, alright. Here, you can help with the Brussels sprouts; this is easy to make.” Kite pulled out four hefty bags – he really liked Brussels sprouts – and laid them on the table. “What do you think the first thing to do with these would be?”

“Wash them?” Killua was already tearing open one of the bags and inspecting the sprouts. “They’re probably dirty.”

“Not quite. First, you want to trim off the tip and peel away any unhealthy-looking leaves; no point in washing something you’re not going to use.” He held out his hand to receive a sprout from Killua, demonstrating the process. The cutting board was large enough that they could all sit and work together, tossing the leftover bits into a bowl to be thrown away at the end. “Now you can wash them.”

He showed them how to wash and dry the sprouts en masse, and Gon took up patting them with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Chopping them into halves afterwards was a faster process, although Killua nearly sliced a finger trying to impress Gon with his speed.

“Then you put them all in a bowl, add the olive oil, salt, and pepper, and stir it all together. I can line a baking sheet with aluminum foil while you do that, and we can put it in the oven. Try figuring out for yourselves what proportions to use.”

The two boys deliberated over exactly what to add, starting with barely any olive oil before realizing they would need much more considering the sheer quantity of vegetable they were cooking. After lining the sheet, Kite grabbed the cutting board and began preparing the ingredients for the pasta stir fry, enjoying the soft chatter. Solitude was the expectation for most Hunters, and some even sought it out, but to Kite there was something comforting in staying with the same group of people for an extended time. It was the reason he took on apprentice Hunters, and the reason he didn’t mind Killua and Gon’s eager help in his research.

They finished seasoning the sprouts – possibly too light on the salt and pepper, but Kite was heavy-handed with seasoning – and Kite had them scatter the sprouts across the aluminum, turning each one so the flat side faced down.

“You sure? Won’t they all cook the same way regardless?” Killua was curious but still following orders, flipping each one to face the same direction.

“They’ll cook uniformly this way, and it keeps the outer leaves crispy while the inner ones grow soft.” The explanation satisfied the young Hunters, although Kite didn’t know if what he’d said was actually true; he’d always just assumed it was. “Most of this just needs to finish cooking now; thank you both for your help.” Gon and Killua smiled at him, bright enough that he couldn’t help tousling their hair briefly before shooing them out of the kitchen.

After a second timer was set for the Brussels sprouts, Kite moved to begin boiling water for the pasta. He frowned as he thought out the dish. Originally, it was going to be fried rice with caramelized onions and bell pepper, but that alone wouldn’t go well with plain pasta, and they had no cheese to add.

He set up a large pot of water for the pasta and used another pan to melt butter for the onions. They didn’t have much to work with, so some olive oil drizzled on top at the end would have to do – maybe a sprinkle of peppermint leaves as well, for extra flavor.

That tagliatelle finished quickly, so he strained it and let it sit while he removed the Brussels sprouts and transferred them to a different plate. He grabbed a large bowl from the cupboard and put the noodles in before stirring in the onion and bell pepper, then tossing in the olive oil and peppermint. Last came the pork chops; it was hard to tell by looking at them if they were done or not, but fifty minutes was a lot of time, so he pulled them out.

Kite wasn’t much for decorum, but he set the small dining table with three plates and even folded their napkins in half before putting out the utensils. They only had water available, so he filled three glasses before calling the kids to dinner.

“Woah, so much food!” Gon’s eyes sparkled at the spread. He sat down excitedly, eyeing the Brussels sprouts with apparent glee. “It looks good, Kite! I’m glad we got to try your cooking!”

“Yeah, looks decent.” Killua put on an air of nonchalance, but the smile on his face completely countered it.

Kite piled the plates full of food, promising them there was enough for seconds and thirds if they were still hungry. He hadn’t been sure of what to expect to the peppermint with pork chops but was pleased with the unusual result; it left what would otherwise be a heavy dish slightly refreshing. Gon, despite his sensitivity to taste, seemed to be especially fond of the novel food and wolfed down both loins on his plate. Both Gon and Killua were happy with their Brussels sprouts and took large second helpings.

The pasta, however, had an issue Kite hadn’t realized: bell peppers. Killua whined and squirmed, and even Gon told him that Killua wouldn’t eat them, but Kite insisted.

“It’s a flavor issue and not a texture issue?” Killua nodded. “Then you have to try one – look, that one there is an especially small piece. Mix it in with the rest of the food, you won’t notice the flavor.”

Killua crinkled his nose and sighed, succumbing to his fate. He pushed it around his plate, scratching fork against porcelain to emphasize his displeasure, but he eventually worked up the courage to eat it. His face contorted further, scrunching first with disgust but not immediately spitting it out, and slowly warped into something closer to begrudging acceptance. As a minor act of defiance, he chugged most of the water from his glass afterward to mimic washing out the flavor.

“Could you taste the bell pepper?” Kite knew the answer was no; he’d already had some, and while it wasn’t absent, the mint overwhelmed most of the flavor of the finely chopped bell pepper.

“... no…”

“Are you going to eat the rest, then?”

“... yes…”

  


Gon doubled over laughing at that point, saying he’d write his mom once they left NGL to tell her about it. He made Kite promise they’d all go back to Whale Island for a visit so Kite could show Mito the miraculous recipe that let Killua eat bell peppers, all while Killua tried to drown him out by claiming that he didn’t really like them if he couldn’t notice them in the meal.

But Gon’s bubbling laughter was contagious, and soon all three of them were laughing, enjoying their dinner together in the faint light of the cottage kitchen at dusk.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a gift for modtor, and am pretty happy with how it turned out!
> 
> Thank you to [minophisch](https://twitter.com/minophisch?lang=en) for being my beta and drawing wonderful art for me to include as well ;w;


End file.
